The administrative and mentoring Core is responsible for the overall coordination of activities associated with the COBRE and the Tulane Hypertension and Renal Center of Excellence (THRCE). This involves interactions with departments in the School of Medicine (Medicine, Pediatrics, Physiology, Pharmacology), the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine (Epidemiology) and the School of Science and Engineering (Biomedical Engineering, Neurosciences). The members of our COBRE in Hypertension and Renal Biology have progressively increased their extramural research support, publications of peer reviewed papers, and presentations at national and international meetings. The efforts have been coordinated by the administrative Core of the COBRE which has been responsible for keeping track of all accomplishments. Under the direction of PI, Dr. L. G. Navar, the program coordinator. Dr. L. Hamm, and the program administrator, Nina R. Majid, the Administrative and Mentoring Core will coordinate and facilitate all the research and training activities supported by the COBRE Cores and Pilot Projects. Accordingly, the Administrative Core will: 1) Provide overall leadership to the COBRE personnel by serving as a resource to the intellectual and mentoring activities of the center. 2) Coordinate and enhance mentoring and research training for career development of COBRE investigators. 3) Provide competent, efficient, and timely oversight of financial activities of the Research Cores and Pilot projects. 4) Enrich the intellectual environment of the Center through regularly scheduled seminars and conferences, support of external consultants, special courses, and various workshops. 5) Encourage multidisciplinary and translational projects by facilitating interactions among investigators from different departments and components of the university. 6) Schedule and organize meetings and activities of the internal steering committee (ISC) and the External Advisory Committee (EAC). 7) Administer all requisite activities of the pilot project grants program. Through the efficient accomplishment and implementation of these varied responsibilities, the administrative and Mentoring Core will provide direction, stability, and leadership to the Phase III program.